Three Songs

2nd Anniversary Blast-off

To quote a song can be cool or it cannot! I'll let you decide.

"Oh What a Night! do do doo doodoo"

At 9pm I looked around the White House bar and thought "wow there's already a good crowd in" ....and I wasn't even ready!! Setting up recording equipment, chatting with the waiting musicians (who always have a question or two) and trying to organise guitars and the PA, can all take a good time.

We had kicked off by 9.15 and the bar just seemed Jammed for the rest of the night.
What a great atmosphere, what brilliant performances (particularly a special unplugged and subsequently very  listened to song by Connor Sheehan) and what a great boost for the Three Songs sessions in the White House.
In total we had performances from 15 different acts, from solo to groups and guest appearances.
The energy just kept flowing, I'm sure the drink was flowing too, and there just seemed to be more and more people waiting for a chance to get on the mic.
I think (hope) that I managed to get everyone up on stage. Did I miss you?.....sorry.

The recordings from the 2nd Anniversary night will be used on this years CD project.  This will be a double album, one of home/studio recordings and the other of the live recordings from this particular night.  The finished CD will be available to all performers and supporters of the Three Songs sessions. If you don't fit into this category you can probably have one anyway...just ask me.

The 2nd anniversary was a fitting time to announce the return of Three Songs to the White House every week!  That just makes things even easier.

If you want to come and play then just come in on a Tuesday. We start at 9pm and everyone and anything is welcome. Bring your guitar, voice, mandolin or whatever.

Thanks again everyone for the brilliance of the night of the 2nd Anniversary. May there be many, many, many more.

(The session in the Locke bar will hopefully continue but on a different day. I will put a notice up here when things are arranged...manager fees, coach services, M'n'M's, etc....)

2nd Anniversary

Next Show..........

                   

Next Meeting...March 14th

If you have read the previous post (4th songwriters workshop) then you may be interested to know that we are organising another meeting for Saturday March 14th.

These meetings tend to be informal gatherings of like minded musicians and songwriters.  We would chat about various things like our individual interests in songwriting,  how we came up with our own material or even giving critique of each others works.  There is also some playing and singing and possibly a bit of jamming too.

Last time we split up into groups to write songs together.....that turned out to be quite interesting and the resulting songs will be performed at the White House gig when they are complete.

So to make a point...these meetings are not technically workshops! Maybe in the near future we will have someone at one of these meetings with expertise in a particular area, such as Songwriting Competitions or promotions.  But for now I think we need to describe these events differently. They are informal, good fun, educational and an eye opener to the local songwriter and musician.

This is a community of people, so I give the task to you.

What shall we call these meetings?

Please leave a comment or email me at Threesongs@yahoo.ie with your suggestions

4th Songwriting Workshop

"I walked back into the room, after the group writting session, and everyone was buzzing with excitment.  Smiles everywhere."

That is my favourite memory of the 4th Songwriting Workshop, which took place in Barrington Road, Limerick last Saturday (7th Feb).....

We began the session with a cup of tea and chatted about what to do.  The idea of group writting came around and so we came up with some topics and phrases to base a song on, and then split up into groups of three to write songs.  Each group found it's own bit of space to work in and the writing began.
Our overall theme was to be Summer related and we all had a list of words or phrases, that everyone had contributed to, to use to build a song. 

My Group
I was in a group with Brian Connoly and Darragh Jennings and we sat in the corner by a photocopier.  Our Song began as a guitar riff that Darragh had.  Brian then came up, quite spontaneously, with a second guitar line to compliment it and  I sat there trying out phrases from the list, and experimented with melodies.
The final song, although not finished, had a verse and a chorusy bit with vocals from all of us and a bit of a guitar solo.  We were quite pleased when, after 40mins, we returned to the main group.

Returning back to the main room I noticed everyone was smiling.  The various groups were sitting together, some still working on their songs, and generally everyone seemed a touch giddy.  I took this as a good sign and thought that we absolutely must do this again!

Each group played their song, as much as was completed, and there was some talk about how it came about, and also some comments from the rest of the group.

I made sure that people had a way to contact the others in their groups so that they might finish their songs.  The Idea being to perform them next time at the gig.

Looking Back

I did my best to include everyone in this workshop.  Each person got his opinion heard and the agend for the session was arranged by us all on the day (At the last workshop we did lots of talking and decided the next time to focus more on actual writing). 

I believe that everyone left on a good buzz.  A generally feeling of achievement was in the air.  I hope the next time we meet up it will be the same.

Thank you to everyone who came along and made this workshop brilliant. 

If you would like to attend the next Three Songs Songwriting Workshop in March, please email me at Threesongs@yahoo.ie or leave a comment with contact details on this page.(your personal details will not be published on this site at all) Further more you could come down to the White House and say hello.....next gig is advertised here

1st Anniversary album now on sale

 

When Three Songs reached the grand ol' age of ONE we put together a collection of songs. To mark the occasion everyone and anyone was invited to contribute an original song to the album.
The whole project took about 2 months, with some artists handing in an already finished track and others songs being recorded from scratch.
The finished album contains 14 tracks (1 hidden just to be sneaky) of original and unique works from the Limerick based songwriters that attend the Three Songs sessions.
It was first launched on may 8th 2008, on the night of the 1st anniversary, and it is now being made available to buy through this website.
If you would like a copy then please click here or go to the "1st anniversary album" tab on the right-hand side, where you can hear samples from the album and find out how to order your copy. 

The album cost is €10 and will be sent out within 2 days so you should have it within 4..  

January 6th...Little Christmas

The new format for Three songs seems to have settled in well.  The first gig of the year featured some solo performances, a couple of duets and a three piece performance from Brian Connoly.  Whilst Brian performed his songs from the stage a few other instruments could be heard accompanying from the crowd.  So well done to everyone for getting into the new vibe in the White House.

The general opinion Iam getting from players is that they feel they are performing more confidently when someone else is joining in.  And I have to say that I agree.  There seems to be a better flow in the songs, and definitely a better level of enjoyment, for the artist as well as the audience.  The shows are now more unique with their collaborations.  I feel it is overall an improvement of the Three Songs event and once again thank everyone for joining in and making it work.

As Three Songs is now running every Two Weeks, there could be a little confusion as to when it is on next. But do not fear, for there shall be advertisement!  Just log onto this site and there will be a poster up showing the next night.  Also there will be a poster up in the White House and some plugs in the local Limerick press.  For now I hope that will be enough.

A New Style at Three Songs

Hi to everyone and thanks for stopping by the site.

As of Tuesday 18th November there will be a new style to the night. Firstly I would like to encourage more collaborations and definitely more jammin at Three Songs.  So to this end there will be a slot from 9 to 10 for these things.  If you'd like to play alongside someone else or just have a go at strumming along then please come down for 9 and you'll hopefully get a chance.
The second half of the night, from 10 to 11ish, will be for solo performances.

As usual at Three Songs the emphasis is on original material ( although as one guy pointed out " this is an original song, but I didn't write it!" ) but we do have the occasionally cover version without too much trouble.

Thanks again to everyone that comes down to support the night.

see ya soon,
Chris

p.s. three songs will run fortnightly for a while, into the new year at least.

A word about copyright

Copyrighting your songs or music is simple.

All you need to do is put a copy, either written or recorded, into an envelope and then send it to yourself by registered post.  Registered post is legally stronger than standard post, and is recorded by the post office with a date.
It is a good idea to label the envelope, because in many years time when you might need it you could well have forgotten what is on the disc.  When you recieve your package in the mail just keep it safe and don't open it!

The purpose of copyright is to provide proof of rights to use of material.  If you try to sell someone elses music as your own and they find out then they will bring you to court, if they are nice people, and produce their copyrighted document as proof that they had the song first.  If you've been bold enough to copyright it yourself then the date on the document will hold the key to who had the song first.
For this reason it is a good idea to copyright your songs as soon as they are finished.

You can copyright multiple songs in the same document , you don't need to do them one at a time.

Another less obvious reason for copyright is this; If someone else has copyrighted your song, and therefore has rights over its use, they can legally prevent you from playing it in public.  Did you know that Michael Jackson owns the rights to lots of the beatles songs, and Paul MacCartney has to ask permission to play them now?

I like idea of other people playing my songs, but I'd like to be acknowledged at the same time.  I also would not like the idea of someone telling me I can or can't play my own stuff, so I copyright all my material once it is written.

For me it is not about money it is about identity.   It is my song and i'm proud of it.

west limerick 102fm......song competition

I thought that our budding songsmiths might be interested in this ..........

The

West Indie

Hour Song Competition

To celebrate the launch of the show,

West Limerick

102FM is running The West Indie Hour Song Competition. First prize is a days recording time in Data Recording Studios in Kerry to record the winning song. A runner up prize will be offered by Future Sound and Vision music shop on

Mulgrave Street

in

Limerick

City

.

Three finalists will be invited onto the West Indie Hour to perform their tracks live in studio before an outright winner is chosen by our judges. More details about the judges and prizes will be announced in the coming weeks.

All you have to do to enter is to send a recording of your song to The West Indie Hour. The decision will be based on the song itself, so the quality of the recording will not matter, the best way to record it these days may well be via mobile phones and email if you have no other way to do it!

How to enter:

1. Record your song. Anything from cassette tape recording via Dictaphone or mp3 via your mobile phone could work, but entries must finally be presented on one of the following media;

CD

Mp3 (via email)

Cassette Tape

Mini Disc

2. Send a recorded copy of your song, with the following information attached:
   
   a) Name of Song
   b) Name of songwriter(s)
   music by:
   lyrics by:
   c) Full set of Lyrics, and
   d) Contact details
   Name
   Phone
   Email
   Address

Via email –  westindiehour@gmail.com

By post –  The West Indie Hour Song Competition

 

West Limerick

102FM

 

Enterprise

Center

 Sheehan's Road

 

Newcastle

West

 

Co.

Limerick

3. Deadline –  all entries must be received no later than

Friday 11^th April 2008

.

Entry is open to song-writers of all ages, styles and genres. However, for a better idea of the style The West Indie Hour likes, its best to tune in to the show. There should be more than enough inspiration for song-writers and music lovers alike!

So, song-writers out there, get busy! To everyone else, be sure to tune in to;

The

West Indie

Hour

Sundays

7-8pm

on

West Limerick

102FM.

Listen live at www.westlimerick102.ie

www.myspace.com/westindiehour

*** *** ***

The

West Indie

Hour Song Competition Rules

1. Submitted song must be completely original in composition. The entrant must own the rights to the intellectual property, i.e. – the music and lyrics must be an original creation of the entrant. For more details on copyright and intellectual property, visit the Irish Music Rights Organisation website, www.imro.ie.

2. The submitted song should be between 3 and 5minutes long. You may exceed 5min if you wish; however longer songs are less likely to be successful. Unless we receive some Bohemian Rhapsody equivalent, the core of the song should lie within 3-5min.< SPAN>

3. Song may be performed by a third party; however it is the song that is being judged, not the performance. Remember, three finalists will be invited to have their song performed live on the show. The competition winner will be the author of the song, as credited in the entry form.

4. Entrants should ideally be based in the

   Munster

   area, or should have a local

   Limerick

   connection. However, entrants from around the country will also be considered.

5. The submitted song cannot have been previously commercially recorded or released in

   Ireland

   or abroad.

6. The prize of a days recording in Data Recording Studios includes engineer/producer. The purpose of the time is to record and produce the winning song only; any additional recording is entirely at the discretion of the studio manager. The prize does not include audio mastering, CD duplication or any subsequent services. For details on the studio visit www.datarecordingstudios.com.

The judge's decision is final.